Moneyer

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A moneyer is someone who physically creates money. Moneyers have a long tradition, dating back at least to ancient Greece. They became most prominent in the Roman Republic, continuing into the empire.

Roman Republican moneyers

R/ M SALVIVS OTHO III VIR AAA FF around large S C: Cohen 515

In the Roman Republic, moneyers were called tresviri aere argento auro flando feriundo, literally "three men for striking (and) casting bronze, silver (and) gold (coins)". This was a board of the college of the vigintisexviri. The title was sometimes abbreviated III. VIR. AAAFF. or even III. VIR. A.P.F. (tresviri ad pecuniam feriundum) on the coinage itself. These men were collectively known as the tresviri monetales or sometimes, less correctly, as the triumviri monetales. The singular is triumvir monetalis.^[1] In English, they are also sometimes called mint magistrates.

In the early times of the Republic, there are few records of any officers who were charged with the superintendence of the mint, and there is little respecting the introduction of such officers apart from a very vague statement from Pomponius. (de Orig. Jur. Dig. 1. tit. 2. § 30.) It was thought by Niebuhr (Hist, of Rome, iii. p. 646) that they were introduced at the time when the Romans first began to coin silver, in 269 BC, but modern authors consider this too precise a reading of Pomponius.^[2] It is known that a college of three was in existence ca 150 BC.^[3] A fourth magistrate was added by Julius Caesar in 44 BC during a time when the mint output was particularly large (in preparation for a war against Parthia).

These magistrates were responsible for the production of the Roman coinage. They were not simple mint workers (monetarii), they were officials who controlled the process, including the design on the coins themselves. Membership in the vigintisexvirate was the first step on the cursus honorum, the age when the post could be held appears to have been approximately 30,^[4] and there is some evidence that the position was appointed rather than elected.^[5]

Some coins appear to have been special issues bearing the legend S C or EX S. C. (ex senatus consulto). Some of these special issues do not bear the signature of a triumvir monetalis, but the inscription CVR. X. FL. i. e. curator denariorum flandorum, or are signed by praetors (P), aediles (CVR AED), or quaestors (Q).

In any case, the magistrate's control of the legend on the coinage lent itself to the production of coins containing political messages. This was self-advertising to further the political career of the moneyers themselves or that of their patrons; in a word, propaganda.^[6]

This article incorporates text from Smith 1875, which is in the public domain.

List of moneyers

211-188 BC: First Denarii to the Peace of Apamea

Cr #	Babelon #	Inscription	Start	End	Moneyer	Career Highlight
63	N/A	C	211	211	L. Cornelius Lentulus	Pr. 211
64	N/A	MA	210	210	P. Manlius Vulso	Pr. 210
65	Aurelia 9-14	AVR	209	209	C. Aurunculeius	Pr. 209
74	Terentia 2-3	VAR	209	208	? Terentius Varro	?
75	Aelia 2	C.AL	209	208	C. Aelius	?
81	N/A	CN.CO	211	209	Cn. Cornelius Dolabella	Rex.Sacr. 208-180
101	N/A	KOP VAL	211	210	M. Valerius Laevinus	Propr. 211
111	Aelia 1	AL	211	208	Aelius	?
125	Lutatia 1	QLC	206	200	Q. Lutatius Catulus or Q. Lutatius Cerco	?
126	Terentia 1	VAR	206	200	A. Terentius Varro	Pr. 184
132	Caecilia 1-7	ME	194	190	Caecilius Metellus	?
133	Baebia 1,3-11	TAMP	194	190	Cn. Baebius Tamphilus or M. Baebius Tamphilus	Pr. 168 or Cos. 181
134	Plautia 1-7	LPLH	194	190	L. Plautius Hypsaeus	?
138	Maenia 1	P.MAE	194	190	P. Maenius	?
143	Maenia 2-6	Q.MAE	189	180	Q. Maenius	Pr. 170
144	Furia 1-6	LFP	189	180	L. Furius Philus	Pr. 171
146	Autronia 1	AVTR	189	180	L. Autronius	?
147	Domitia 1-2, 6	CN.DOM	189	180	Cn. Domitius Cn.f. L.n. Ahenobarbus	Cos. 162
148	Maria 1-6	Q.MARI	189	180	Q. Marius	?
149	Mamilia 1-5	L.MAMILI	189	180	L. Mamilius	?
150	Titinia 1-6	M.TITINI	189	180	M. Titinius M.f or M. Titinus Curvus	? or Pr. 178
151	Furia 17	S.FV	189	180	S. Furius	?
152	Quinctilia 1	SEX.Q	189	180	Sextus Quinctilius	?
153	Calpurnia 1	CN.CALP	189	180	Cn. Calpurnius	?
154	Coilia 1	L.COIL	189	180	L. Coelius	Leg. 170-169

188-146 BC: Peace of Apamea - Sack of Carthage and Corinth

145-106 BC: To Marius' first consulate

106-92 BC: Marius' consulates to the Social War

92-79 BC: Social war through Sulla's dictatorship

78-59 BC: Pompey, Lepidus to Caesar's first consulship

58-49 BC: Caesar in Gaul

49-44 BC: Crossing the Rubicon to the Ides of March

44-42 BC: From the Ides of March to Philippi

42-31 BC: Philippi to Actium

Medieval moneyers

When European coinage revived during the Middle Ages, moneyers again were trusted to create currency on behalf of kings and potentates.

For a large part of that era, virtually all coins in circulation were silver pennies, and these often bore the name or other identification of the moneyer.^[7]

See also

• Roman currency
• Roman Republic
• Roman Republican coinage
• Vigintisexviri

Notes

1. ↑ Jones 1999:Mint magistrates
2. ↑ Burnett 1987, p20
3. ↑ Jones 1990:p188
4. ↑ Harlan 1995:p xiv
5. ↑ Burnett 1977
6. ↑ Luce 1968
7. ↑ Philip Grierson, Philip Raymond Grierson, Mark Blackburn, 2007. Medieval European Coinage: The Early Middle Ages (5th-10th Centuries). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-03177-6.

References

• Babelon, Ernest (1885-6). Description historique et chronologique des monnaies de la république romaine, 2 Volumes
• Broughton, T. Robert S. (1951). The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, American Philological Association, 3 Volumes. Volume I (509 B.C. - 100 B.C.) ISBN 0-89130-812-1 . Volume II (99 B.C. - 31 B.C.) Philological Monographs Number XV, 1952. Volume III (Supplement) ISBN 0-89130-811-3.
• Burnett, Andrew (1977). The Authority to Coin in the Late Republic and Early Empire, Numismatic Chronicle, Seventh Series 17 pp. 37–63.
• Burnett, Andrew (1987). Coinage in the Roman World, Seaby. ISBN 0-900652-85-3
• Crawford, Michael H. (1974). Roman Republican Coinage, Cambridge University Press, 2 Volumes. ISBN 0-521-07492-4
• Grierson, Philip & Philip Raymond; Blackburn, Mark (2007). Medieval European Coinage: The Early Middle Ages (5th-10th Centuries). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-03177-X
• Hamilton, Charles D. (1969),The Tresviri Monetales and the Republican Cursus Honorum, Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, 100 pp 181–199.
• Harlan, Michael (1996). Roman Republican Moneyers and their Coins 63 BC-49 BC, Trafalgar Square Publishing. ISBN 0-7134-7672-9 {
• Hornblower, Simon & Spaworth, Antony (1999). The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Third Edition. ISBN 0-19-866172-X
• Jones, John Melville (1990), A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins, Seaby. ISBN 1-85264-026-X
• Luce, T.J. (1968). Political Propaganda on Roman Republican Coins: Circa 92-82 B. C., American Journal of Archaeology 72(1), pp. 25–39
• Sear, David R. (1998). The History and Coinage of the Roman Imperators 49-27 B.C., Spink & Son. ISBN 0-907605-98-2
• Smith, William (1875). A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London
• Stevenson, Seth William (1889). A Dictionary of Roman Coins, Republican and Imperial, George Bell and Sons, London
• Wiseman, T.P. (1971). New Men in the Roman Senate 139 B.C. - A.D. 14, Oxford University Press, ISBN 1-59740-224-9

Further reading

• Harlan, Michael (1995). Roman Republican Moneyers and their Coins 63 BC-49 BC, Trafalgar Square Publishing. ISBN 0-7134-7672-9
• Harlan, Michael (2012). Roman Republican Moneyers and their Coins 81 BCE-64 BCE, Moneta Publications. ISBN 978-0-9654567-0-8
• Sear, David R. (1998). The History and Coinage of the Roman Imperators 49-27 B.C., Spink & Son. ISBN 0-907605-98-2

External links

• List of Roman republican moneyers (see bottom of page)
• Hollander, David B (2003). The Management of the Mint in the Late Roman Republic
• Cointalk.org
• Eligivs. A prosopography of the mint workers (Italian)